A Passion for Podcasting

by Katie Anderson 

Ever since I could talk, I loved an audience. I didn’t speak for a rather long time when I was small but once I started there was no stopping me. 

I used to host radio shows from my bedroom with a tape recorder and BT telephone and invite listeners to participate in my programmes. I don’t remember much about this now of course but some old school friends I was recently reunited with on Facebook reminded me how coming to my house to play after school inevitably involved an appearance on my radio show before tea. 

I love narration and am fascinated by the use of storytelling in history as a means of sharing and teaching the next generation. Just as you or I will remember priceless information about things we have learned aurally since we were young, there’s a place in business for this too. What better way of spreading the word and sharing information? A professional podcast is a fantastic way of engaging your customers and putting yourself out there in the big pool of podcasters on the web. It’s only natural we should teach in this way after all. Think about it, it’s the way we’ve always learned about new things; from listening to Granny showing you how to make a most fabulous apple pie, reading aloud at bedtime or tuning in to your favourite radio show. The key is finding a performance that holds your attention long enough to teach you about things, people, culture and places we have yet to understand in our everyday lives. Our attention span isn’t long either, a good broadcaster has only a few seconds before their listener starts fiddling with the dial. 

The fantastic thing about modern broadcasting is that you don’t have to have a job within a large broadcasting corporation to write, produce and air your programmes. Podcasting is fast becoming a respected means of broadcasting factual and fictional information by drawing in listeners over the web from a far wider reach than a local radio station can. In fact, businesses are using podcasting to bring customers to their websites for an entertaining experience, offering them more than just shopping. Think about all the added benefits of SEO content a podcast can bring to your website. It is a great way to show off your expertise, specialist skills, interact and keep clients coming back time and time again. Make your business an interesting place to be and watch and see how your relationship with your customer grows. From a journalistic point of view it’s a much more challenging way of shouting about what you do than churning out press releases and adds fun and value to your ever growing business.

So, in essence, think of podcasting like a game of tag. Social media like facebook and twitter give us an instant online presence and you can even track your followers and statistics on the number of people driven back to your homepage. Take blogs, where like here , you can read and learn about what a business or organisation is planning or doing right now, or a podcast that you can listen to again and again and the possibilities are endless. With a podcast you can instantly stream your broadcast via specialist websites to reach potential new clients all over the world. 

From complicated marketing campaigns, charts, spreadsheets and pointless information overload, we’ve come full circle and are using aural communication like never before to get our message across. Marketing your business today is about humanising what you do, making yourself accessible and speaking in plain English. As is true in everyday life, the simplest way to spread the word is by telling someone face to face, or ear to ear as it were, about what you know and inviting them to listen and pass the information on.

Hold the Front Page!

Creating newsletters that get your brand noticed
by Jill Tomlinson

News is wall to wall. 24/7. Non-stop. When you’re trying to connect with customers, it’s not easy to make your voice heard above the din. No wonder the humble newsletter has stepped forward as one of the most powerful marketing opportunities for brand builders.

Online or offline, the newsletter is an astonishingly valuable marketing tool. Unlike many other promotional formats, it speaks for itself as well as supporting your brand’s core mission. It brings the weight of editorial-style credibility.

Subscribers are pure gold

Opt-in lists double this power. Subscribers are pure gold for marketers. They tell you in positive terms they want to join your inner circle and find out more about your brand. They want to know about you regularly. If you do the right thing by these valuable people and reward them with brilliant content, they’ll reward you with strong, profitable connections over the long term.

Be anything but dull

Given the benefits, why on earth are so many newsletters dull, long-winded and self-promoting? Get your content right and you’ll stand head and shoulders above this kind of lazy mediocrity. Give your readers what they want and deserve: fresh, relevant content that informs, excites and interests.

DO make your newsletter:

• newsy
• exciting
• informative
• helpful
• funny
• involving
• full of real people, stories and opinions

DON’T make your newsletter:

• selly
• dull
• corporate
• long-winded
• self-congratulatory

Keep it fresh

Genuinely interesting content does much more than promote short-term sales. It builds loyalty, forms brand advocates, creates inclusion and encourages feedback. As your brand expresses its personality, so readers deepen their emotional connection with it. They enjoy the sense of participation that comes from being part of this exclusive group.

Online newletters:

• drive traffic to landing pages and web pages
• are economical to create and distribute
• bring feedback
• provide useful analytics

Online, the benefits of plentiful new content are vast. E newsletters give linking opportunities that drive traffic to landing pages and web pages. They also boost your brand’s SEO efforts by supplying the generous new content search engines love.

Observing online content rules is vital to ensure the best results. Keep e-news copy concise. It’s tiring to read a lot of words on-screen so keep it quick and scannable. Encourage opens with irresistible email headers and tempt readers to linger with content that’s fresh, lively and easy to digest.

Offline newsletters:

• are easy to read (people like paper!)
• look and feel great
• have ‘hang around’ value with longer life
• are read by other people as well as subscribers

Offline, the newsletter gives a little more scope in terms of time and space.
Draw people in with real life tales, people and places, useful advice, ‘how to’ lists, top tips and insider details that take the reader behind the scenes of your brand.

Give your newsletter the time and attention it deserves and so will your readers. Who could resist?

Who's afraid of big, bad article marketing?

By Lesley Tither

Years ago, I used to be a journalist. Feel free to boo and hiss. I did the pre-entry college training, worked as an apprentice with a newspaper group in Greater Manchester and have a certificate to wave to prove it all. 

For a while I flirted with other roles. Then as the new millennium dawned with a flurry of fireworks, it was time to take up the mighty pen once more to earn a crust as a freelance copywrter. 

Except that in the intervening years, quite a few things had changed. I'd thought I was pretty up to the mark being able to bash an electric typewriter at top speed. Suddenly it was all computers, and I'd never even switched one on. And there was this new phenomenon – electronic mail. I felt a bit like Catweazle, being suddenly catapulted into the future. 

It seemed that every day brought now challenges. Learning curve? It sometimes felt like trying to cycle up Everest with a flat tyre. Luckily I had good friends, and colleagues who became great friends, who held my hand, calmed me down, and translated my computer's hissy fits into manageable setbacks for me. 

Never dull, always exciting, usually pressurised, I found the work fascinating. One day I might be writing about nature and the environment, my main interests. Another day I would be flirting with fashion, only glad clients couldn't see my normal grunge army attire as I wrote about their glamorous glad-rags. 

A year or so ago Sarah asked me to do some Article Marketing for her. I nonchalantly agreed, and once I'd scoured Google to find out what the Dickens it was, I made an uplifting discovery. I already knew exactly how to do it. It's just another name for journalism. Just another way of saying write a piece that reads well and informs the reader without preaching or talking down to them. 

Getting the keywords right 

There are a couple of 21st century extras to bear in mind. Like keywords. Everyone writing online content these days knows what they are, and knows all the tools to help you pick the best. But the trick is not to come up with keywords you'd search on yourself to find your article. 

You have to put yourself into the shoes of Joe Public, or, if you've ever studied law, the man on the Clapham omnibus. And the words they'll pick may often be much simpler and more basic than you might think. 

The rest of it is just a carbon copy of what we were taught at college by a bearded lecturer whom we nick-named Captain Bird's Eye. Pick an intro or teaser that will grab the reader's attention immediately. Lead into an article that delivers on the promise. Finish with something that will stick in their mind, amusing, poignant, pithy, according to the article. 

Always check your speling 

Keep sentences short for easy reading. Don't rely on a spell checker to correct your mistakes and make sure the grammar's correct. Don't try to be clever, and certainly don't be patronising. 

Pick a headline that's concise and goes with the article. If you promise Ten Top Tips, give them ten, not nine. Read the rules of the site you're submitting to carefully, to see if they want, for example, two spaces after a full stop, unusual for those used to writing advertising copy. 

Don't feel compelled to write to the upper word count limit. If you've said all you have to say in 300 words, it's pointless and will irritate the reader if you're determined to stretch your word count into four figures. 

Remember that it's a lot more subtle than direct mail. You can't hammer your reader on the head with “buy now – stocks are limited” messages. You have to woo them softly and make them want to click on those tantalising links at the end of your honeyed words. 

So there you have it. The mysteries of Article Marketing unravelled. It's just good old fashioned, but never out of fashion, journalism. 

Now you too can become an Expert Author like I am – apparently!

A special place where plans start to take shape

Many sleepless nights later and at last we have the go ahead for our exciting new eco project. The planners have agreed on the development of Jim’s Yard; an eco gallery, new office space for my copywriting business, HQ for Lincolnshire Tree Services and brand new eco luxe accommodation for two.

The plan is to replace derelict outbuildings on the existing site to use the space sympathetically to its full potential and show off the natural beauty of the native hardwood timber we fell and recycle. As well as housing Jim's commercial tree surgery business, a wood workshop is planned as retail space for hand turned wood products using local felled timber. Visitors will be able to try out Lincolnshire specialities in the tea room next door using locally sourced ingredients, visit a creative gallery space, doubling as a multi-use hub for art and crafts courses and exhibitions. All this under the Wold’s brilliant stars away from the light pollution of the cities; to a cleaner way of life where you can still see the sky and bluebells adorn our forests and pathways.

It promises to be a total sensation, a niche in our region’s offerings as our businesses diversify and move with the responsibility of living in modern times. We’ve taken our deep rooted belief in all things eco to create this exciting new project in as sustainable way as possible. A biomass boiler and harvested rainwater will ensure we have only a positive impact on the environment. Over the last 7 years we've been working out ideas for this natural progression, as well as salvaging everything we possibly can from bricks to old doors and local stone. Jim has started charcoal making with coppiced timber. And overall is making good but slow progress. For me, 17 years into a successful career of copywriting for national and international clients, it's a great way to put something back into the county. I relish the opportunity to turn my marketing talents and experience to something sustainable, symbiotic and tangible and help a few other local businesses along the way. The plan is to showcase all manner of Lincolnshire talent, revive traditional skills and help sustain a rural economy in a positive and rewarding way. We aim to create a unique place to visit and a heavenly place to stay.

It's early days but watch this space...

Johnny's Take on Technical Copywriting

Some years ago Springer Publishing approached me and asked if I’d be interested in doing some technical copywriting for their website. I was excited at the prospect of working for such a large publisher and as a trial-run they gave me some marketing material for a publication about toeplitz operators.

Now, if you look up toeplitz operators in Wikipedia (as I’ve just done) you’ll be reliably informed that, ‘In operator theory, a Toeplitz Operator is the compression of a multiplication operator on the circle to the Hardy space’.

I got on the phone to my man in Berlin.

‘Franz’, I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this. I’ve never heard of a toeplitz operator. I think it’s some kind of mathematical equation but maths has never been my strong point - it took me two attempts to pass my ‘O’ level.’

Franz sensed the panic in my voice and assured me that I didn’t have to understand toeplitz operators or know anything about them.

‘All the technical information is correct’, he said. ‘It’s been checked and double checked, and anyone who reads beyond the title will know what these things are.’

It was clear that Franz had also never heard of these mysterious equations. He advised me only to get the grammar right, make the material flow, and ensure this particular publication on toeplitz operators stood out from all the others. Surprised that there could be more than one book on the toeplitz operator shelf, I set about writing some trade copy, consumer copy, and I picked out a few obvious USPs.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Franz said it was ok, and four years on I’m still writing for Springer.

The format has since changed. I get sent the same kind of material, often written by the book’s author and frequently translated from another language, but now I must condense the essence of the book into 260 characters with spaces. Any longer than this and the copy won’t fit in Springer’s database, much less than 260 and it looks a bit thin.

Working for Springer has my spell-check in overdrive. Each title is bit like a puzzle and I spend a lot of time Googling words to check they exist. My mantra is ‘Keep it simple’, keep the English plain and let the science do the talking. Don’t be scared by technical detail and don’t give up because you don’t understand. My father worked for NASA and like he used to say, ‘A problem’s like a circle. You can go round it and you’ll get there but you gotta go through it to solve it.’

Writing about things immersed in technical detail can be daunting, but I can usually tell when I’ve cracked it. Perhaps it’s a bit sad, but when I succeed in making sense of something horribly complex and I hit the word count and it comes up 260 - I still get a buzz.


Top tips for technical copywriting

1. Keep it simple
2. Let the science do the talking
3. Make it fit
4. Go through the circle
5. Enjoy

Loungewear, a lovely way to laze

My busy working weekdays roll from one to the next so the idea of luxurious loungewear really appeals to me. Even the words send me spinning into the dream of downtime in relaxed clothing, scented candles and homespun throws a million miles away from my workday attire. Lazeme designs use only the softest, sensuous fabrics in their clothing and home ware collection. Slip into a silk tunic or kaftan, pretty camisole or light weight cotton knit wrap at the end of a hectic day. For me it sounds heavenly and Lazeme has an irresistible collection including sleepwear, beachwear and plenty of other ideas for lazy living.

Everyone loves a bit of downtime so why not look fabulous while you’re doing it?

This Twitter Thing

I signed up to this Twitter thing a few months ago with an ‘oh all right then’ attitude, expecting to come away with a ‘who cares?’ conclusion. A few months later I’m dipping in the Twitter stream daily.

So here it is, my love letter to Twitter. The things I wish I’d know when I started and my take on what it’s all about.

With its 140 character limit, Twitter’s a hostile environment to the boring, dominating or waffling. As it’s on the internet, it attracts the tech savvy. As a public space (anyone can read your updates) it also asks you to be a bit brave. So to be on Twitter you’re already my kind of person. But what do people on Twitter do?

Talk. Imagine a dinner party where a few mouse clicks changes the seating plan to put you in the middle of things; your definition of ‘things’. Antarctic researcher, fashion designer, photographer (currently in Afghanistan) and ordinary soul who shares your humour, there’s your table for tonight. And you can change it at any time, click, click. Eavesdropping, chatting across continents, making an exit to *put the spuds on*, and absolutely no need to brush your hair.

And yes, with Twitter’s list of trending topics, you actually do know there’s an earthquake, plane crash or a new baby for Jamie Oliver, long before it’s reported on the networks. What’s more, you can locate and read the tweets coming from the centre of breaking stories. It’s supreme rubber-necking.

So are you interested? Then go sign up.

This blog is not about the mechanics, though. If you want to know them, put some pertinent phrases into Google. I’m cutting to Twitter’s oohs and ahhs.

But one quick tip. Move away from the Twitter website to applications like Tweetdeck or Tweetie as early as you can. Why struggle with a Walkman when someone’s invented the iPod?

Following some Twitterati

I’ll tell you what I did. We all start with the celebs, so go ahead. A good place to make sure you’re following the real ones and not the fakes is www.valebrity.com. But celebs can be dull and not interested in you at all. Shocking, I know. 

We also start with people we know in real life. Like any party, it’s nice to turn-up with your gang. For many,Twitter replaces  text messaging and adds a new fission to office banter, with a whole new way to delegate. I frequently send a tweet to @ashog (who works five foot away from me) to put on the kettle on.

Once you’re following around 50 Twitterers, you’ll understand why I find Facebook a ghost town.

But how do you find and follow normal yet wonderful people you’ve never met? A quick search will show you who’s tweeting right now on your current obsessions. Coco Chanel, Arthur Rackham, Mad Men. It’s like shaking a snow globe and up they float. Pick a few (not just the pretties), look at their Twitter pages and read a few tweets they’ve done. If they tickle your fancy, click follow.

But don’t just stick with your kind of nerd. Cast the net wide. Take a gamble. And look at Trending Topics too to see who’s talking about the latest thing. Within a few days of following someone, you’ll know if they’re for keeps. If they are, plunder their list of people they follow for more goodies. If they’re not for you, un-follow and shake the snow globe again.

And don’t forget to throw in some quality news feeds too, with my pick being @bbcnews.

You’ll also want to follow The Names. Brands, governments, charities, football clubs, festivals, museums… Twitter’s full of organisations attempting to hang with the cool kids. As a copywriter it’s fascinating to watch them sign-up and set out their stalls, with sites like www.mytweet16.com letting you snoop on anyone’s fledgling tweets.

And they can really get it wrong.

Have you ever been in a day of meetings and broken for lunch to find someone still doing meeting talk? Corporate language, only one topic (them), only one opinion (theirs). That’s corporate Twitter at its worst.

People follow Names to hear their latest, of course, but they also want to see personality and charm. They want to venture off topic because that’s fun. They want to see a Name ask questions and listen to answers. To loosen the tie. No on wants a 140 character brochure.

Movers and Shakers

The next Twitter challenge is finding the movers and shakers (not slebs) who link to the best of the web as it breaks, and are often at the heart of fascinating, fearless debates that then make the headlines. How? Explore a trending topic that excites you, and you find a lot of tweets coming from one source. Hmm.

Your Followers

To plump-up your follower list, you have to follow and tweet yourself. Shake your Twitter booty. Follow back with a generous spirit, block the spam and anyone you find offensive.

 And if someone does not follow you back right away, relax. They may need you to strike up a few conversations (do an @ reply to their tweet) before they notice your wonderfulness. They may simply not want to follow you: that is allowed.

Once you’ve got around 100 good followers, you’ve got a ‘hive mind’ to ask stuff. Any kind of stuff, and you’ll be amazed at what comes back.

Twitter for the Copywriter

But for the copywriter Twitter has extra appeal. Making your point within seconds is what copywriting has always been about, so for me Twitter’s a trip to the writing gym.

I follow a lot of professional writers, and people who simply write well, and love to see what they do with so little space. And I love the instant feedback. When you watch a tweet skim (being re-tweeted over and over) it sharpens your instincts for what excites. And when a tweet sinks without a trace, you also take note of what bores.

The fly in the ointment?

Not everyone’s a darling, or course. There are people you won’t find exciting on Twitter, oh yes, but you know what, you just don’t follow them. And rude people? Try blocking.
And like anywhere else, there is spam. People trying to gate crash the party wearing a sandwich board. Did they think we wouldn’t notice?

But avoiding them is so much easier than in real life.

Once you’ve been baptised in the Twitter stream, you feel a need to write a blog on how great Twitter is. I must get round to doing that.

And after that? Well I’m now hunting down Twitter’s cabinet of curiosities; pages and applications that are blowing me away with their creativitiy. But that’s a whole other blog. I’ll let you know.

You can find me on Twitter @Angpang

Angela Montague is  freelance copywriter. Of all our writers she has embraced Twitter most fully so we  commissioned her to write this piece on the pleasures and pitfalls of tweeting.